---
type: "Bill"
title: "Worker status: employees and independent contractors."
description: "Existing law, as established in the case of Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 (Dynamex) , creates a presumption that a worker who performs services for a hirer is an employee for purposes of claims for wages and benefits arising under wage orders issued by the Industrial Welfare Commission. Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the \"ABC\" test, to establish that a worker is an independent contractor for those purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 5"
citation: "California AB 5 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill", "appropriation"]
subjects: ["Worker status: employees and independent contractors."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gonzalez"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 36
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2018-12-03"
last_action: "2019-09-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c12bca24-2e35-414e-94b2-d5f20240720d"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB5"
source_hash: "369dfa462e745ae1ea36a35da05cc685045b8302ebc530fc7b6094f6cec78acf"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 5 (20192020) — Worker status: employees and independent contractors.

Existing law, as established in the case of Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 (Dynamex) , creates a presumption that a worker who performs services for a hirer is an employee for purposes of claims for wages and benefits arising under wage orders issued by the Industrial Welfare Commission. Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the "ABC" test, to establish that a worker is an independent contractor for those purposes.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **12/03/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB5&version=20190AB599INT)
2. **03/26/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB5&version=20190AB598AMD)
3. **05/01/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB5&version=20190AB597AMD)
4. **05/24/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB5&version=20190AB596AMD)
5. **07/11/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB5&version=20190AB595AMD)
6. **08/30/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB5&version=20190AB594AMD)
7. **09/06/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB5&version=20190AB593AMD)
8. **09/18/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB5&version=20190AB591CHP)
9. **AB5** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB5)
10. **09/16/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB5&version=20190AB592ENR)

## Votes

- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **13–3** (pass) · lower
- AB 5 Gonzalez Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **61–16** (pass) · lower
- AB 5 Gonzalez Assembly Third Reading — **59–15** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB5 Gonzalez et al. By Durazo — **29–11** (pass) · upper
- AB 5 Gonzalez Concurrence in Senate Amendments Motion to Appeal the Decision of the Chair By GALLAGHER — **16–53** (fail) · lower
- Do pass as amended — **5–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Gonzalez — primary (person)
- Bonta — coauthor (person)
- Carrillo — coauthor (person)
- Durazo — coauthor (person)
- Gloria — coauthor (person)
- Kalra — coauthor (person)
- Leyva — coauthor (person)
- Mark Stone — coauthor (person)
- McCarty — coauthor (person)
- Medina — coauthor (person)
- Rendon — principal coauthor (person)
- Skinner — coauthor (person)
- Wicks — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2018-12-03** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2018-12-04** From printer. May be heard in committee January 3.
- **2019-03-25** Referred to Com. on L. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-26** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on L. & E. Read second time and amended. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-03-27** Re-referred to Com. on L. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-04** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (April 3). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-05-01** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-05-02** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-13** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 1609.)
- **2019-05-15** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-16** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 1760.)
- **2019-05-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 13. Noes 3.) (May 16). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-05-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-23** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-23** Action rescinded whereby the bill was read third time and amended. `amendment-passage`
- **2019-05-23** Ordered to third reading.
- **2019-05-24** Assembly Rule 69 suspended. (Page 1969.)
- **2019-05-24** Read third time and amended. Ordered to third reading. (Page 1984.) `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 59. Noes 15. Page 2071.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-30** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2019-06-12** Referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2019-07-10** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (July 10). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-07-11** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-08-12** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2019-08-30** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 30). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-08-30** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-06** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-10** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 29. Noes 11. Page 2770.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-10** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 12 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2019-09-11** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 3370.)
- **2019-09-11** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 61. Noes 16. Page 3375.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-09-17** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11 a.m.
- **2019-09-18** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-09-18** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 296, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c12bca24-2e35-414e-94b2-d5f20240720d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).